The
focus of this lesson is for children to learn to identify the letter s
in
writing and in spoken words.Children
need to know that the letters in the alphabet represent phonemes, and
need to
be able to identify every single one.The two main skills for reading success are letter recognition
and
phoneme recognition.

Procedure:

Introduce the letter S to the class.Explain to the children why we need to be able
to identify the letter s. Explain that we
need to know it’s symbol and it’s sound.Hand out a giant letter S to
each student to place on his/her desk.Have
one in front of the classroom.

Find out what is in the student’s
schemata’s about the letter.Ask them
questions about what it looks like and what it sounds like.Have the entire class say the sound that s
makes together.

Have pictures of objects and animals
that begin with the letter s, at the front of the class room.(snake, sunshine, school, spaghetti, string,
etc.).Have the children identify the
objects together emphasizing the /s/ sound.Then
add some more pictures to the group containing objects that begin with
different letters of the alphabet, and have the student’s identify
which one’s begin with the letter s.

Introduce a tounge twister emphasizing
the letter s.(Sister Suzy sits sadly in
the sun).Have the children repeat the
tounge twister and see how many times they can say it in a row.

Model for the children on the board how
to write the letter s.Have the children
practice writing the letter s on their own manuscript paper.“To draw the letter s, we need to start at the
top of the line and squiggle on down to the bottom line.I want each of you to practice doing this letter on you very
own paper!”

Have the children make cookies together,
and shape their cookies into the letter s.the
children will have fun making and eating the treats while they learn to
make the letter s.

In order to assess the children, have
them hold their large letter s up every time you show them a picture of
something beginning with the letter s. For individual assessment, I
will take time to observe each child individually.

Read the story SAMMY The White House
Mouseby Elizabeth St. John to
reinforce the lesson on s. Have the
children raise up their large letter s every time they hear the /s/
sound.

References:

Adams, Maryilyn.Beginning
to Read:Thinking and Learning about Print
– A Summary.Champaign:Center
for the Study of Reading Research and Education Cetner, 1990. p 36